Summer Plans?

Summer in Cleveland

It is the middle of May and as anyone with kids in school can tell you, summer is rapidly approaching. What do your kids do during the summer?

If your kids attend summer day camps, which ones do they go to and how much do you pay for camp?

I'm looking for cost saving opportunties for my kids and myself for the summer. All suggestions, reviews and ideas are greatly appreciated.

In the past, my oldest has attended our local community summer day camp while the younger girls were in day care, but the price for summer camp for 3 kids is making me cry, $100 for the 5 day per week program, but if I want before care and after care (prior to 9:00 a.m. and after 4:00 p.m.) there is an additional charge of $10 per day, per child taking cost up to $150.00 per child, per week. Then there is the cost of field trips (one each week) and cost of lunches and snacks etc.

Add in gas to get me to my glorious temp job and back each day and I figure my weekly take home "profit" will be about $15.00. And that is only if I work the full 40 hours and don't miss any time for things like sick kids, orthodontist appointments, swim meets etc.

So I’m asking – how do you do it? How can I do it?